Clan Protectorate

The Clan Protectorate is a province of the Free Worlds League since 3138. While originally where the Spirit Cats were hiding, this evoled when Rikkard Rwabdoggo called himself Khan of the reborn Nova Cats. With the help of Julietta Marik (internal), the Clan Protectorate became a full-fledged province of the new Free Worlds League. While the Clan oversees defense and security, Julietta Marik oversees the civilian population of the province. While a non-traditional province of the League, the Protectorates are one of the more stable regions. Khan Rwabdoggo quickly has rallied other politicians behind him due to his simple, straightforward policies.

Modern History of the Clan Protectorate

Fighting for the Wolves

Clan Sea Fox approached the Spirit Cats after the Battle of Terra. Petr Kalasa (internal) provided equipment and weapons to the Spirit Cats touman with the promise that they would assist the Wolf Empire. With this equipment, Star Colonel Rikkard Nova Cat decided to put his plan in motion and challenged the remnants of the Nova Cats for his bloodname. Khan Rwabdoggo, from that point onwards, became the official leader of the Protectorate.

In a communication sent to the Parliament, Khan Rwabdoggo told the FWLM that he would not engage them in combat. However, the Nova Cats touman moved in and started fighting mercenaries and renegade forces in the Wolf Empire. As time went on, the recomposed military of the Protectorate, including FWLM regiments raised by Julietta Marik, moved in to defend the Empire against the Capellan Confederation and Lyran Commonwealth.

War against the Marians

Most of the Protectorate forces were involved in the Wolf Empire. However, when the FWLM started fighting the Marian Hegemony, the industries in the Protectorate started providing equipment to the Oriente regiments. Clan grade equipment began showing up in greater percentage than before for standard regiments of the FWLM.

Capellan – Star League War

The Protectorate did not directly assist the Star League in their war against the Capellan Confederation. Tau Galaxy was assigned to garrison work on various Wolf Empire worlds by Khan Rwabdoggo, as the Protectorate is officially both a member of the Star League and the Free Worlds League.

During that period, the political unrest between the 3 major Marik factions, led by Fontaine Marik (internal), Nikol Marik (internal) and Kenyon Marik (internal), increased the position of the Clan Protectorate, which was viewed as a more “stable” alternative. A few of the smaller provinces were happy to become friends with Clan Nova Cat on top of things. With the abolition of Proposition 39, the power of the Clan Protectorate is growing.

Clan Protectorate Culture

The Clan Protectorate has not “integrated” his Clan elements like the Rasalhague Dominion or Scorpion Empire does. The Clan population of the Protectorate lives in enclaves on the various worlds where they exploit the land “according to their way”, but their leadership directly connects with the “civilian” population of the worlds for trade and political matters. The population of these enclaves vote in the same elections as the regular civilian population, and “accumulation of wealth” is now standard amongst the non-Warrior caste members.

The civilian population of the Protectorate has let go of the “neo-feudal” trappings of the former Free Worlds League. Noble titles are pretty much extinct outside of as an honorific matter. As an example, Julietta Marik is technically a “duchess”, but outside of the title being used in print and discussions, it holds no power. Clan laborers and “civilian laborers” have the same rights and the same protections, including the presence of unions which have members from both populations. The Merchant Caste has been trying to detach themselves from the Nova Cat completely to better compete with the Inner Sphere corporations, and a vote for this is scheduled in 3156.

Clan Protectorate Military Assets

The Protectorate has been rebuilding its military along two lines. First, Clan Nova Cat has been buying war materiel from Clan Sea Fox to rebuild their touman, with 2 Galaxies having been reformed. Alpha Galaxy is commanded by the Khan himself, while the saKhan oversees the newly reformed Tau Galaxy. While the focus is simply on rebuilding, a lot of the ‘Mechs used by those front-line units are top of the line. Facilities have been constructed to build new OmniMechs, including the “Firestarter IIC” or Spirit Cat.

On her side, Julietta Marik has hired various mercenary units and reformed them into actual military units for the Protectorate following FWLM guidelines instead. Soldiers who do not want to adhere to the Clan’s way of life are also encouraged to join these newly formed regiments, which purchase their equipment mostly from standard FWLM suppliers.

• Alpha Galaxy (Clan Nova Cat) (Elite / Reliable)
• Tau Galaxy (Clan Nova Cat) (Regular / Reliable)
• 77th Marik Regular (Regiment, Regular / Reliable)
• 1^st Assellus Hussar (Regiment, Green / Reliable)
• 1^st Oceana Navigators (Regiment, Green / Unreliable)

Current National Data

Clan Protectorate Demographics
Affiliation: New Star League, Free Worlds League
Population: 4.8 billion (3153)
Population growth rate: 2.1 percent
Self-Sufficiency Index: 96 percent

Leaders
Khan: Rikkard Rwabdogo

Senator: Julietta Marik
Military:
Clusters: 7

Regiments: 3

Warships: 1 Eagle-class

Controlled worlds: 7

The Nova Cat Underground Railroad

With the annihilation of Clan Nova Cats by the Draconis Combine in 3143, the “general population” of the Nova Cats was put down. Most of them were forcibly sterilized and then moved to other regions of Combine space to join the masses of the “unproductive caste”. While the labor caste did not see this as much of a difference, members of the “highest castes” saw this as massive disrespect and a fair number preferred to commit bondsref instead.

Unbeknownst to the ISF, however, a group of Rasalhague Dominion civilians, Loki agents and Black Dragon Society members were quite appalled by this. This was the start of the “rounding up” of the Nova Cat civilian castes through careful exploitation of information and cross referencing of paperwork from the ISF. Nova Cat civilians were moved to more centralized locations rather than being spread out. When possible, usually through political machinations, they were then scooped up and made to disappear, generally absconding them to the Rasalhague Dominion or to the fledgling Clan Protectorate in the Free Worlds League.

Acceleration of the process

This process was originally very slow. However, with the founding of the New Star League and the rebirth of Clan Nova Cat under Rikkard Rwabdoggo, this operation was accelerated by the Star League Watch. The goal was to strengthen the Nova Cats by providing them more manpower and personnel, while also gaining approval from many due to humanitarian actions. During the Star League – Capellan War and the Davion Reconquista, this accelerated once again as the ISF was too busy fighting a war on 3 fronts and trying to quell Azami dissent. While those were generally members of the lower castes, several scientists and merchants began moving to the Clan Protectorates even though they had been treated better than their labor and technician caste brethren.

The next major migration came with the founding of the Azami Brotherhood as a breakaway state to the Draconis Combine. Local Azami leadership was happy to have any Nova Cat survivor repatriated to their new homeland, under the guise of cooperating with the New Star League. Reality was a bit darker, however, as the Azami leadership did not trust the Nova Cat “spiritual atheism”, which opposed their stricter Islamic religious views.

Issues in the Protectorate

The Clan Protectorate began having issues at this time due to the influx of refugees. Processing and treating a lot of these new arrivals was expensive. Even with multiple worlds to settle on, the housing and food was still limited. This required Julietta Marik to start lobbying for financial support from other League provinces. The Silver Hawk Coalition strongly opposed this move, but Julietta’s sister Nikol, still Captain-General of the League, approved of measures to help the Protectorate.

Rather than seeing these as refugees, Julietta and Rikkard agreed to open settlement rights on most of their jointly controlled world. This led to a more pioneering mindset being fostered amongst the new refugees but also allowing expansion of the settlements on many Protectorate worlds. Fishing and farming were encouraged with land grants and fishing grants, which allowed for refugees to be fed while also being gainfully employed. Other locals also wanted to take advantage of these new grants, which somewhat destabilized the rigid caste system Khan Rikkard had pained to install.

Medical treatment and “unsterilization” was another expensive measure which was required in this situation. A group of Canopian doctors were invited to come to the Protectorate to help with this. These doctors and their staff became stranded in the Protectorate when the Andurien-Canopus conflict began in earnest, leading to more international issues.

Politics and Allegiances

A lot of the Nova Cat civilians were quite apprehensive as well of once again being under the boot of a Successor State. The damage done by House Kurita, and the specter of the Marik-led Jihad, was the main cause of this. Rikkard Rwabdoggo had to spend a lot of time discussing the issue with other Clan members, trying to elaborate that they were no longer just on a reservation but rather an active member of the political system of the Free Worlds League.

Within the Protectorate are multiple factions now trying to change people’s minds. The largest one is still the group supporting Khan Rikkard Rwabdoggo and the voting bloc behind Julietta Marik as Senator for the Protectorate. They generally want to work with the Free Worlds League and the New Star League to create a more lasting peace in the region while restoring Clan Nova Cat’s military to somewhat fully operational status.

The second group are the Nova Cat hardliners, who view the Successor States as enemies of the people and especially enemies of the Nova Cats. They would rather the Clan Protectorate join up fully with the New Star League. They are also far more militant in “reprisals” against Inner Sphere powers, even wanting to go back to fighting House Kurita. The leaders of this group are generally warriors from various Clans that joined the Protectorate after the fall of the Republic of the Sphere.

The third group is an even more isolationist group, which believes the Clan Protectorate should break all diplomatic ties and focus solely on self-governance. This is a stance generally espoused by people who were greatly affected by the Combine purges or completely disillusioned with the Clan way of life promoted by the New Star League still. This group is small but growing and appears to be financed, strangely enough, by a foreign entity.